I think that the things inside the vault would not only be those things that are precious but also things that are rare or perhaps even things that need to be hidden away safely. When you think of it that way it opens up a whole new can of worms!!!

everything is logins and passwords these days...I have an exponential number of logins and passwords...and they're all screwy.....
The vault being a vault means that you either need logins and passwords or the "right" combination. Wisdom and the key 2 higher states is all around even under the toilet bowl. All it takes is the right answer. BM, as a wide open inner and outer space, is a prime resource for key gathering, (I don't mean someone else's car keys). Patanjali's Yoga Sutras http://www.brightpathvideo.com/YogaSutras.htm contains an answer, actually, many answers, and also justifies the use of psychedelics in achieving mystical, enlightening states..... see below:

so go vault to heaven...you may find the answer at the playa
(from:Patanjali's Yoga Sutras 700B.C. yo)

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believe is false."- William Casey, CIA Director 1981

The vault of heaven makes me think of a safe guarded by heavily armed angels. Inside this safe lies pictures; a few of god waking up next to some blonde angel, a few videos of gods unofficial miracles such as him casting his wife as a mute so she could never ask him to take out the trash again. I think lots of ideas that coincide with several farside cartoons. I have al of these ideas but I am having a hard time sharing these visions on a budget.

Well, if you're going to think in sort of literal ways, are we not vault of those prized items? Do we not love, show compassion and make sacrifices? Sure, some of us misconstrue what God wants, what God is and the like, but I'm not going to do into the massively different idealologies here, but we could be the vaults of heaven. But lets not forget "space", the "heavens" that so many have looked out into and asked so many questions and wishes from. What truthes/secrets might it hold that we have yet to unravel?

Personally I think that there are too many ways of looking at this theme for everyone to put down what it means to them. In fact, I don't think that what I wrote above is really very close to how I'm going about it, but it does hold some of my ideas. Anyways, good luck and I hope you find what you're looking for.

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the One who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits [or the sevenfold Spirit] of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."

I don't think it's deity related at all. Vault - a high ceiling, in this case a euphamism for the sky, which I'm sure they thought was only a few thousand (hundred?) feet up there, stars are holes in the vault etc...

I think of the smashing pumpkins video 'tonight tonight' which was done as a tribute to the ORIGNAL trick move photographer George Melies. The man in the moon made of green cheese, spaceships launched from backyards, stars as chariots, overbuilt space props flying across a stage where the strings are almost invisible...

The 'Ether' goes right along with what I think this year's theme is:
Ether - noun
1) The regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens.
2) The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets.
3) Physics - An all-pervading, infinitely elastic, massless medium formerly postulated as the medium of propagation of electromagnetic waves.

After becoming the first spacecraft to enter Saturn's orbit, Cassini sent back this image of a portion of the planet's rings. It was taken by the spacecraft's narrow angle camera and shows the dark, or unlit, side of the rings.

After becoming the first spacecraft to enter Saturn's orbit, Cassini sent back this image of a portion of the planet's rings. It was taken by the spacecraft's narrow angle camera and shows the dark, or unlit, side of the rings.

and this brought to you by 19 pounds of plutonium

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believe is false."- William Casey, CIA Director 1981

As I understand it, "vault of heaven" is a term for the celestial sphere, or the apparent spherical shell on which ancient astronomers thought the stars were embedded like jewels. In this case, "heaven" doesn't necessarily mean the place you (er, well... some people) go when you die -- it refers to the heavens, or the night sky. So the Vault of Heaven theme I think is an invitation to contemplate the cosmos, and the endless possibilities we might imagine in the vastness of the universe.

I like the term "vault of heaven" because it makes me think of an actual place you can visit... an unimaginably large place, full of wonderful undiscovered things. Missions like Cassini give us a chance to visit the vault of heaven and discover the wonders of realms beyond Earth.

Anyway, the "Vault of Heaven" theme opens up so many possibilities, I think it's gonna be a great year for art. All the ideas on this thread are great, and I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with.

How about that naked chick from the video vaulting into my camp, for starters...

As I understand it, "vault of heaven" is a term for the celestial sphere, or the apparent spherical shell on which ancient astronomers thought the stars were embedded like jewels. In this case, "heaven" doesn't necessarily mean the place you (er, well... some people) go when you die -- it refers to the heavens, or the night sky. So the Vault of Heaven theme I think is an invitation to contemplate the cosmos, and the endless possibilities we might imagine in the vastness of the universe.

The fish are slim pickins on old Lahontan these days, so a seal's gotta settle sometimes. Strippers work in a pinch... I mean, I've got a good two weeks of blubber to work with, so who needs fish anyway? Ahem.